Christmas Knight (Heartthrob Heroes, Book 3) Read online

  But her body made demands of him, too. Her hot spasms engulfed his hardness in a deliciously sensual torment he could resist no longer. He slammed into her and their bodies rocked together in a mutual explosion of erotic satisfaction.

  Wearied for the moment by their lovemaking, Tori lay by Zach's side. "A few more hours left. That's all we've got," Tori murmured and clung to him. Zach heard the bleakness in her voice.

  "It's something we have to face. But not right now." He kissed her unruly hair.

  "I'm so glad you rescued me," Tori murmured.

  Zach let out a small laugh. "You got it all wrong. You rescued me."

  A thump at the foot of the bed broke their intimate talk. Spike made his way up to the head of the bed to ambush Zach and Tori by barking and pawing at them.

  "I forgot about Spike!" Tori shrieked.

  "I had to bring him in from the cab last night or he would have turned into an icicle."

  "I didn't see him in here this morning!" Tori laughed and brought the covers up to her neck as the dog wagged his tail, yipping and pouncing.

  "I completely forgot about him, too. He must have been sleeping quietly at the foot of the bed." Zach scratched the back of the animal's ear. "What a well-behaved dog! You didn't peek once!" Spike sat a moment enjoying the attention until he turned and pounced on Tori. Tori shrieked with laughter again and brought the covers over her head to keep out the frisky animal.

  "I don't remember you leaving last night!" Tori's muffled voice called out from under the layer of blankets.

  "You were fast asleep. Someone had to shut off the lamp and batten down the hatches around here."

  "Funny, I always heard it was the guy who fell asleep after..."

  Zach snapped back the blanket and scooped Tori up in his arms for a final kiss. He ignored the dog's barks for just so long until he relented.

  "Okay, okay. I'll take you out!" he yelled. As if on cue, the dog leaped off the bed and pranced over to the door. "I'll be back in a few minutes. Spike and I are going out. Nature calls." He forced himself to pull from Tori's grasp and tugged on his clothes. With a final wink to Tori, he opened the door and left with his dog.

  Minutes later, Zach returned to the rig and unloaded Spike into the cab of the truck. He walked over to the bunker door, already hungry to get Tori into his arms once again. He threw open the rig's door to execute a surprise attack and tackle her to the bed.

  "What are you doing?" Zach stopped in the doorway before he could fulfill his plan. He stood a moment for his eyes to adjust to what he saw before him. Tori sat on the bed, fully dressed, rummaging through his toiletry case. He seized the case from Tori's hand.

  "I'm gone with the dog for a few minutes and I come back to find you digging through my stuff?" He frowned at her and zipped the case closed. "What do you have to say?"

  "Um, who's this?" Tori pulled a small, crumpled instant photo out from behind her back and presented it to Zach. Her voice was as icy as the temperature outside.

  "Tori, why did you go rummaging through my things?" Zach asked, dread racing through him. He remained still as he held the snapshot of Karen and the toiletry case in his hands.

  "I was looking for some deodorant. I ran out. But the real question here is, do you have a wife?" Tori clutched her shirt tightly to her chest. A mix of anger and hurt clouded her eyes. "You just told me hours before that you'd never been married and now this." She pointed to the photograph.

  "She's not my wife."

  "She was at one time. It's signed on the back. It says, 'Love, your wife, Karen.' She's wearing a ring in the photo. I need to know."

  "My personal belongings happen to be my own business." Zach stuffed the photo into a small drawer and tossed aside the toiletry case. "I never said you were the only woman I had in my entire life. Didn't we just discuss this?"

  "Yes, we did just discuss it. But it seems to me that when you have a chance at a naked woman, you'll say almost anything to make her happy just to get her in bed."

  "Is that what you think?" Zach fought back an overwhelming urge to explode in anger and storm out of the bunker. "I have been nothing but honest with you."

  "Have you? You're carrying a photo of your wife with your most intimate things."

  "She's not my wife. Besides, a tube of toothpaste, a toothbrush, and the deodorant you said you were looking for do not constitute intimate."

  "Stop avoiding the question. If she looks like a duck, wears a ring like a duck—"

  "And if you didn't stick your nose into my things, you never would have known about this."

  "And I never would have found out that you lied to me about Karen." Tori paused a moment and looked to the ceiling as though to find the right words to describe her feelings. "You cheated on your wife, Zach. With me. I don't feel very good about myself right now."

  Zach paced back and forth while averting Tori's eyes. He hated discussing this. He wasn't a man who found it easy to talk about past hurts. "Why do I feel like the criminal when you were the one doing something wrong?"

  "I didn't call you a criminal. I'm just hurt that you had to lie." Tori slumped down on the bed.

  Zach let out a sigh as the angry desire to tear apart the contents of the bunker ebbed. He hated seeing her hurt. He sat down beside her. "A few years ago, on Christmas Eve, I asked Karen to marry me. She said yes. We took a digital picture and she printed it out. She wrote, 'Love, your wife' on the back in fun. Saying it was good practice. But by Christmas morning, we broke up. I didn't exactly lie about her. I just didn't give you the gory details."

  "Is that the whole truth?"

  "Trust me. She married a plastic surgeon who suits her lifestyle better than I ever could." He rested his hand on hers.

  "I'm sorry she did that to you. She lost a good man."

  "I'll be okay." Okay now that he had Tori in his life. Even if only for a few more hours. "Since we've got that cleared up, it's your turn. Tell me why you went snooping."

  Tori hung her head low. With one hand, Zach raised her chin to force her to fix their gaze. He searched her for answers, but could see nothing through their clouded sadness.

  "You have to tell me," he said.

  "I really started out looking for deodorant, but then I just kept looking. I guess I got scared." Her words came, but Zach hardly conceived the meaning behind them.

  "Of what?" He brushed back a few strands of hair from her face while he waited for further explanation.

  She clutched her chest, right at her heart. "I'm scared of you."

  Zach stiffened. "Of me? You slept with me when you were afraid of me?" He dropped his hand from hers. He didn't want her to feel held captive in any way. "Did you sleep with me because you didn't know what I'd do to you if you didn't? You were truly that scared of me?"

  Tori gave a slight chuckle and grabbed his hand back. "No, not at all in that way. I didn't want to admit it, but I'm afraid of how you make me feel. I feel things I never felt before, and"—she dropped her head once more—" and I know I'll never feel them again. And about your bag, I guess I needed to look for something."

  "But looking for what?"

  "Oh—maybe a reason not to fall in love with you." Tori met Zach's gaze head on. "I guess I found it. But I'm glad I found the picture. It lets me know you had a special woman in your life before me. And you'll have someone after me. It'll make it easier to say goodbye." Tori stood up to escape the bunker, until Zach held her back.

  "Whoa. Hold on. I don't think it's fair for you to go looking for some deep, dark secret about me that doesn't exist."

  "Face it, Zach, if you're still carrying around her picture, you must still have feelings for her." Tori pulled her arm out from Zach's grasp and sat further away from him.

  "She's an ex-girlfriend, Tori, that's all. It's been over between us for a long time. I told you that and you'll have to believe it."

  "So why do you carry that one picture?"

  Zach sighed and fell back on the bed. Tori was asking a goo
d question, a question that should have a better answer than he could give. "I guess I just never took it out of the case."

  "You must truly love her if you keep it around."

  "At one time, maybe. But not now. Would you feel better if I told you that since the moment I saw you, I forgot that photo existed?"

  Zach spoke the truth and hoped that Tori believed him. "I really think I only had an infatuation with Karen. Actually, I know that now." He had never spoken this honestly to any woman, but Tori somehow made it easier for him.

  Tori relaxed back onto the bed. "Why didn't you just tell me about her from the start?"

  "Stupid reason. Nothing important."

  "I'd like to believe you had a sincere reason... stupid or not."

  "You really want to know? Denying I ever cared for someone makes it easier to forget how easily I can get destroyed."

  Tori rolled over toward Zach. "If you want to forget her, then why do you carry her picture around?"

  Zach laughed. "For an even dumber reason. To make other truckers think I've got a girl back home so they won't harass me into spending the night with some hooker working the truck stops." Zach felt Tori's stare burn upon him.

  "That's pretty manipulative, don't you think?" she asked.

  "Why?"

  "You conveniently hide behind the memory of some ex-girlfriend. But then you accuse me of hiding behind my son Stephen so I don't have to have a love life."

  "No way. This is different."

  Tori let out a defiant shriek. "It's no different. You use the image of Karen when it comes in handy. When you have someone in your arms, namely me, she doesn't exist. But to avoid peer pressure from the long-haul guys, you display her photo like a trophy." She thrust a hand onto her hip in triumph.

  "Wait a minute! I'm the one who got dumped! How do you do that? Twist things around? Do you practice this sort of thing?"

  "No, it's merely logical. Everyone's been through it at least one bad breakup. Myself, included. You can't hold on forever. Trust me, I know."

  Zach cut off Tori's impromptu lecture by pushing himself off the bed. He didn't need to hear any more. He paced the small area at the foot of the bed. "Now I remember why I love the open road. Because I don't have any woman biting at my heels. Maybe you should start following your own advice and live your life the way you tell me I should live mine."

  Zach stopped his words as he watched Tori scoot back farther onto the bed. He could see by her terrified expression that she feared the sudden truth he'd just dumped on her. But that wouldn't be enough to stop his ranting. Not this time. She had pushed him too far. She angered him... more than any other woman could. He felt as if he were on trial, while she had been the one caught rifling through his private property.

  "I don't care if you believe me when I say this, but you did make me forget Karen. You even made me think I could believe in another woman again. But not for long. Not after you went through my things."

  "I told you why I did it." Tori kept her voice soft.

  "You didn't trust me. That's why you went through it."

  "Didn't you hear me? Didn't you hear what I said about you?"

  "You said you didn't want to fall in love with me. So don't. Don't fall in love with me whatever you do, I'm warning you, because I won't be there for you tomorrow."

  Tori's pouty mouth rounded. "You won't see me tomorrow anyway, because you're dropping me off at the next stop."

  "So you conveniently found a way to get out of here all of a sudden?"

  "Not exactly. It doesn't matter. I'm not going to St. Louis with you."

  "And why is that? Because the truth hurts?"

  "Because I don't live there!"

  Chapter 10

  Zach stood mute. He hadn't expected that bit of information, and so had no response. Whether it be lovemaking, traveling to St. Louis, or fighting, Tori sure came up with one surprise after another.

  "If you don't live in St. Louis, then why are you going there? Where do you live? Where the hell are you from?"

  "Bloomfield. Three hours south of St. Louis."

  "I know where Bloomfield is. And that comes out to six hours round trip back to St. Louis. Why didn't you tell me this before?" Zach's patience had run out even before the news of Bloomfield. "I want a straight answer."

  "I wanted to tell you, and I did try. A couple of times. But then I thought someone could come and get me in St. Louis by the time I arrived there. Until that plan fell through. My father has been sick and my mom doesn't drive—"

  "And what about friends? Relatives?"

  "My family moved to Bloomfield just a few years ago. No one lives close to them anymore. I have no friends in that area."

  "So why did you keep Bloomfield a secret in the first place?"

  "Because I didn't want you to know exactly where I lived, I mean, not at first. I had just met you and didn't know you."

  "You mean you didn't trust me," he snapped. He couldn't figure her out. How could she convince him to trust her when it came to love and yet have her own guard up all this time? She had had the nerve to confront him about Karen and yet she had been keeping her own secret the whole time. He'd had enough of this hypocritical nonsense.

  "Look, I understand why you wouldn't trust me at first but after everything we've been through…"

  The anger in his tone plus the hurt in his eyes made Tori's heart twist.

  "That's not it. Maybe at first. But then, I didn't want to put you out any more than I already had. I didn't want you to feel obligated to take me to Bloomfield. We've been held up so much already, and I really thought I could find a ride from St. Louis. But I couldn't."

  "So were you hoping I'd offer to drive you six hours out of my way? I know we just spent the night together, but you should have told me you meant it as prepayment for services." Zach immediately wished he hadn't said the words, but the temper that welled within him overcame all else.

  He waited and prepared himself for Tori to raise one hand and slap him. And he deserved it for speaking in such a way to her, no matter how far she pushed him. But to his surprise, she didn't. Within her usual spitfire demeanor, she bounded off the bed.

  "That was uncalled for. I told you, I didn't want to put you out any more than I already had. So don't worry, I'll leave you alone at the next stop. But you can leave me right here for all I care." With her tiny fists clenched into tight balls by her side, Tori stood up to Zach with no apparent concern that her size was no match for his.

  But Zach could see that when it came to foolhardy stubbornness, she could match him any time, any day. Perhaps if she had appeared more wounded by his slur, he would have felt guilty enough to take her to Bloomfield. But seeing a glimpse of her pigheaded nature tempted him to toss her out along with her belongings and do just what she suggested—leave her there.

  "I'm not leaving you here, not in this cold. But I will dump you off at the next diner or bus station we come to."

  "Why wait? Don't worry about me. I'm sure I'll find a way home from here." She heaved her belongings out onto the ground, hopped down from the bunker, and stood outside. She crossed her slender arms and glared up at him as if to test his will.

  "I'm not going anywhere with you." She narrowed her eyes and set her mouth even more stubbornly.

  All Zach could imagine was the authorities finding her frozen, dead body and tracing her back to him. He didn't need any trouble like that on his schedule.

  Zach followed her outside and slammed the door shut behind him. "Oh, yes, you are." With one sweep, he gathered her up under his right arm and dragged her to the truck's passenger-side door. Excited by her arguing, kicking, flailing, and demands to be released, Spike barked furiously from within the confines of the cab and joined in the ruckus.

  "In a way, I'm glad this happened," Zach spoke between huffs while Tori struggled in vain to break free. He continued talking over her curses and shrieks. "You reminded me of my mission. How could I let you distract me even for a minute? Well,
no more. Our relationship will be strictly business from here on in. Now stay put and behave yourself."

  He managed to toss his wriggling bundle of beautiful woman into the truck's cab, where Spike added to her misery by trapping her, licking her face eagerly and thoroughly. "If you want to be left alone in some strange place, then that's fine with me... but not here in the middle of the woods where you'll die of exposure, leaving your son an orphan."

  Zach hesitated a moment outside her door to make sure she wouldn't bolt. Tori silently sat with arms crossed. She obviously had to let him win this battle. After all, he was right. Plus he was her only safe means of getting to civilization. And if she wanted to see Stephen soon, she would have to sit in the cab and pout for the rest of the trip. Zach knew this. She knew this. He looked up at her in window and shot her a smug smile, just to rub it in.

  Although confident she wouldn't leave, Zach still kept his eyes on Tori and hiked around to the other side of the truck. He tossed her belongings back into the bunker. When he entered the driver's side, he immediately noticed how strangely quiet the interior of the cab had become. Tori sat silent. And Spike had shut up once their ruckus had stopped. Only the grumbling of the truck's engine could be heard as he and his small small band of travelers moved on.

  * * *

  Another minute of this and I'm going to howl, Zach thought to himself as the first silent hour rolled into the second. It hadn't been so much the icy quiet that bothered him, but his own cutting thoughts. His harsh words to Tori played over in his mind. Each time he tried to concentrate on the road, thoughts about her and their fight bothered him. He knew he couldn't take what he'd said back now, but he wished he could.

  Her silent treatment became unbearable. It left him too alone with his thoughts for too long. Thoughts of what a fool he'd been to yell at her like that. He also realized he'd forgotten all about his personal goals and that wasn't good. Finally, he thought about how Tori would be out of his life in a few short hours.

  When two people found themselves stuck in tight quarters, no one knew how things would eventually turn out. But Zach did know one thing. No matter what his heart might feel, he had to ignore it at all costs.